


Six O'Clock

by futurefish



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adopted Children, Fluff, M/M, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-02
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 12:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2067528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/futurefish/pseuds/futurefish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Standing back up, Levi looks after Mikasa's tiny retreating figure, and opens his mouth to call after her. As soon as he speaks, so does the very tall blonde handsome man next to him, and a resounding “I'll pick you up when the big hand is on six!” echoes between them. Surprised, the blonde man turns to look directly at Levi, and Levi gulps, just a tiny bit, because attractive men were intimidating. And then the man smiles, and Levi hates feeling this way, but his smile is literally the sun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six O'Clock

“You want me to take her in? _Adopt_ her?” Levi stares at Petra for a good half a minute before slowly sliding his gaze to the small girl sitting next to her, her head bent forward, face completely hidden by a mass of dark hair. He lets out a low sigh, turning his head to the side.

“Yes,” Petra replies, sounding a little helpless, “You're...you're the only one she has left. Her parents were _killed_ , Levi.” She sounds guilty, but Levi knows just how persistent she can be in the long run.

“Don't guilt trip me,” He mumbles, rubbing at his temples, “I've never met her before – I haven't talked to her my brother in over a decade, and I – I have to adopt his kid?” He isn't angry, not really. Just surprised. Maybe a little angry, too, now that he thinks about it. This is a funeral, after all, a funeral for the only son of the family who took in Levi as a child. Granted, he hadn't seen his adopted family ever since he was a teenager, but that was because he ran away from them. Frankly, he didn't want anything to do with them anymore.

Except, well, now there was Mikasa.

Levi looks at the girl, and nearly flinches and looks away when she lifts her head to meet his eyes.

She's sad, Levi realizes.

He glances back over at Petra, who had fallen silent.

“You don't _have_ to,” She finally answers, “But...you are her family. Or the closest thing she has to one right now.”

Levi sighs again, tugs at the collar of his black suit. _Funerals suck_.

“How old is she?” He asks.

“Four,” Petra replies immediately, taking his question as a hint of interest, “She's a really, really good girl from what I've heard.”

“Her mom doesn't have any family?”

“No.”

He pauses again, runs a hand through his hair. He's tired, he wants to go home and take a nap. There are dark circles deepening underneath his eyes, and there's work to worry about too. He doesn't even have a pet. How did anyone expect him to take care of a kid all of a sudden? All by himself?

“Levi,” Petra speaks up, “Don't you feel lonely?”

Levi looks over at her sharply, and he must have looked pretty angry because Petra leans back a bit. “No,” He replies curtly, averting his eyes, “Just because I live by myself and do everything alone doesn't mean I'm _lonely_. And it doesn't mean that I should just adopt some kid I don't know.”

And, suddenly, the kid speaks. “Did you cut your hair yourself?” Her voice is tiny, Levi barely hears it, but he does. He looks at her, narrowed eyes widening a bit. He didn't expect her to _talk_.

“Mikasa,” Petra begins, but Levi cuts her off, “Yeah. I did. Why?”

“Nothing,” Mikasa says, shrugging, “It looks cool.”

For some reason, Levi smiles. It's tiny, but the corner of his mouth does lift a bit, and he feels the strange urge to laugh. “Nobody's ever told me _that_ before. You're weird.”

She looks legitimately insulted for a second before she tilts her head and asks a completely different question, “Are you my dad's brother?”

He hesitates for a second. He hasn't spoken to his brother in over fifteen years, so what was he supposed to say? “Yes,” Levi finally tells her, “I'm your dad's brother.”

She takes in the answer, seemingly chews it around before swallowing and moving on, “So am I going to live with you now?”

Petra tries to intervene again (“ _Mikasa_ ,”) but Levi waves her off, his entire concentration focused on the little girl sitting across from him. This was his brother's daughter, Levi's _niece_. “Do you _want_ to live with me?” He asks.

“Hm,” Mikasa ponders, “Will you cut my hair if I live with you?”

Levi blinks, taken aback, “Um, no. If you don't want me to.”

“I want you to.”

“Okay then, I'll cut your hair.”

Satisfied, Mikasa falls silent again, looking back down at her feet before mumbling, “I want to live with you.”

Petra looks up at him, surprise forming across her expression, and Levi knows what she's thinking – _you didn't want her five minutes ago_. It was true. In fact, it was still true. Mikasa was still some kid he didn't know, but she was his brother's daughter, and it was sort of fun...talking to her. He didn't remember the last time he talked to a kid like that. Probably never, actually.

“Help me with the legal stuff, I'm not good at that.” Levi tells Petra pointedly, and she nods before he even finishes the sentence. “Give me everything her parents had for her for now, I guess. Enough for me to keep her alive.” He continues casually, glancing over at the girl. “Mikasa,” He says her name for the first time, and the girl looks up at him, and he thinks he sees something spur within darkened, sad pupils, “You'll be living with me now.”

She nods, “Okay...”

“Levi,” He finishes for her, “You can call me Levi.”

“Levi.” She repeats, “Levi.”

“Yeah. Let's go home, then, Mikasa.” He says, and stands up from his seat, going around the table that separated them to outstretch his hand. She stands up, stares at his fingers for a bit, before slipping her small hand around his thumb, “Okay.”

* * *

 

She's been at his house for nearly a week. Levi quickly catches on to the fact that she's quiet, but she talks when she wants to. He never catches her cry, but sometimes he sees her look out the window a bit, or at the photo of her parents that Petra had given her.

She eats cereal in the morning with him, and she refuses to sit anywhere else but in the chair right next to him. She likes Cocoa Puffs and Levi does too, so he pours her a bowl first before moving to pour his own. On the third day, Mikasa asks to do it for him, so he lets her. She spills milk over the counter, but he cleans it up right away and tells her it's okay. She still looks a bit guilty though.

During the day, Levi works at a coffee shop across the street from his apartment. He doesn't know what to do at first, so he asks his manager if Mikasa could spend his hours in the back room, and surprisingly enough, Farlan allows him. Isabel, his co-worker, spends time with her whenever she can, and gives her chocolate milk for free whenever she wants. Levi would spend his breaks hanging around in the back room with her. Usually, they don't talk, and just sit side-by-side. Mikasa takes an interest in Levi's smartphone though, so he downloads a few games for her to play.

On the seventh day, he carries Mikasa piggyback-style back home. “Mikasa,” He asks as he shifts his arms a bit so that she'd be more comfortable against his back, “We need to send you off to school, huh? A daycare or something, I don't know, kindergarten.”

She doesn't reply, so Levi continues, “You don't like spending the entire day with a bunch of adults, right? I'm sure you'd have fun at kindergarten.”

She mumbles noncommittally into the back of his hoodie.

“Are you scared?” He asks, and he feels her shake his head behind him, “Then it'll be okay, right? I'll take you there and pick you up everyday.”

He doesn't get much of a response, and she crawls into bed that night without her speaking another word. He then turns back to his laptop, and googles and researches nearby daycares for hours.

The next morning, after they eat their cereal and brush their teeth, he takes her to Sunshine Daycare and Pre-School, a ten minute walk from the apartment.

He walks up to the office, “I'm Levi Ackerman. I called you earlier,” He says, and the girl behind the window nods and hands him a few papers to sign. Mikasa stands next to him, clutching onto his jacket.

As soon as he's done, the woman opens the door and calls out, “Mikasa, let's go meet your teacher!”

Levi turns to look at her, and swallowing a sigh, leans down to look at her. “It'll be okay,” He reassures her, patting her shoulder, “I'll be back for you after I'm done working, I promise. I'll bring a treat for you, what would you like?”

She stares at him silently, and Levi rubs at the side of his head, “I promise I'll be ba--”

“ _Armin_!” A loud voice suddenly cuts Levi off, and both he and Mikasa look up. A brunette boy around her age runs out of the door the woman had just open, racing towards a blonde boy behind Levi. “You were absent yesterday! Why?! Were you sick?! Are you okay now?! Did you throw up?!” The boy screams as he nearly bowls the blonde boy over in his excitement, and all Levi can hear the blonde boy say is a bit of a strangled, “ _Eren_ \--”

And then, Levi's eyes travel from the pair of boys to the very tall blonde man standing next to the kid called Armin, and he suddenly _gulps_ , because holy shit, he has never seen someone so goddamn _good-looking_ before ever in his life. The blonde man's hair is perfectly styled and parted, and the clothes he's wearing are what Levi had only seen on TV or in magazines. They're expensive, and that's all he knows. His eyes are a clear blue, and his eyebrows are thick but almost perfectly angled. It was as if someone molded him into a perfect statue and gave him the life and will to walk and breathe.

Suddenly, the man looks over at Levi, and Levi flinches, turning back to face Mikasa.

“Levi,” She whispers, eyes widening a bit, “Your face is red.”

“Um,” Levi begins, eyebrows creasing as he tries to regain his composure, but he hears footsteps behind him and, _oh no_ , he's coming closer, he's walking towards him, oh my god, _I didn't even wash my face this morning, these clothes are from college, fuck–_

“Hello, Nanaba,” The man greets the woman at the door, walking right past Levi and Mikasa, “Sorry Armin was absent yesterday, he caught a cold over the weekend. He's fine now, though.” Their conversation melts into the background as Levi squats in brief panic.

Levi, a stoic expression fixed back on his face, looks up before glancing over at Mikasa. Her eyes are now focused on Eren and Armin, and Levi looks at her and says softly, “Go on.”

And she does. Sending one last apprehensive look at his direction, Mikasa slowly separates herself from him and follows Eren and Armin through the door.

Standing back up, Levi looks after her tiny retreating figure, and opens his mouth to call after her. As soon as he speaks, so does the very tall blonde handsome man next to him, and a resounding “I'll pick you up when the big hand is on six!” echoes between them.

Surprised, the blonde man turns to look directly at Levi, and Levi gulps, just a tiny bit, because attractive men were _intimidating_.

And then the man _smiles_ , and Levi hates feeling this way, but his smile is literally the sun.

“Is this your child's first day?” The man asks, “I don't recognize her.”

“Yeah,” Levi manages, realizing that he has to crane his neck up quite a bit to look at the man in the eye.

“I'm sure she'll have fun. All children are nervous at first,” He says, before extending a hand, “I'm Erwin Smith, by the way.”

Levi gulps and shakes the man's considerably larger hand, “Levi. I'm Levi Ackerman.”

 _Oh my god,_ Levi thinks, _I'm fucked._

 


End file.
